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TITLE. Precipitation data for B1 chart recorder, 1952 - 1964.

ABSTRACT. Precipitation data were collected from a ridgetop climate station east of Niwot Ridge (B1 at 2591 m) throughout the year using a chart recorder. Initially, instrumentation consisted of an 8-inch metal rain gauge with the receiving rim about 3 feet above the ground and measurements were made on an approximately weekly basis. More recently, instrumentation consisted of a Fergusson-type weighing rain gauge. Precipitation was caught in a bucket containing ethylene glycol (to melt snow) and light oil (to prevent evaporation). As the weight of the bucket increased, the pen moved up via a spring mechanism and recorded on a rotating chart. Precipitation was recorded on a continuous basis.

INVESTIGATOR. Mark Losleben, Tree-Ring Lab, University of Arizona, 1215 E. Lowell Street, Box 210045, Tucson, AZ 85721, losleben@email.arizona.edu.
Contact: Jennifer Morse, INSTAAR, University of Colorado, 4001 Discovery Dr., UCB 450, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, jennifer.f.morse@colorado.edu.

VARIABLES. precipitation, qualifying days.

KEYWORDS. precipitation, climate, weather, meteorology, climatology, chart recorder, Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, B1, Niwot Ridge LTER, NWT, long term

LOCATION. Study site was B1 (located on the north side of and approximately 4 miles from the east end of Sugarloaf Road). Original data are stored with the NWT LTER data manager and at the Mountain Research Station.

TIMING. begin 1 October 1952, end 13 December 1964, weekly.

CITATIONS. [1]Marr, J.W. 1967. Data on mountain environments. I. Front Range, Colorado, sixteen sites, 1952-1953. University of Colorado Studies, Series in Biology 27, 110 pp.
[2]Marr, J.W., A.W. Johnson, W.S. Osburn, and O.A. Knorr. 1968. Data on mountain environments. II. Front Range, Colorado, four climax regions, 1953-1958. University of Colorado Studies, Series in Biology 28, 169 pp.
[3]Marr, J.W., J.M. Clark, W.S. Osburn, and M.W. Paddock. 1968. Data on mountain environments. III. Front Range, Colorado, four climax regions, 1959-1964. University of Colorado Studies, Series in Biology 29, 181 pp.

METHODS.  An EasyEntry program was written in order to efficiently get the precipitation data contained in the 3 Marr et al. reports (listed above) into an electronic form. Data were entered and rekeyed during the early summer of  1993 by Susan Kindig and Mike Sannes. The resulting files were further processed and archived on niwotlter, the NWT LTER server. These files were the source of the data that appear in the data section in this file.
The weighing-bucket gauges are currently not in use, although partial precipitation records may exist for the post-1964 period. For periods where the precipitation quantity represents more than a 24-hr period, that quantity is recorded on the final day of the period and the number of days over which that quantity occurred is given in the final field.
Metadata for B1 climatological data from other sources can be found at:
http://niwot.colorado.edu/meta_data/b-1dp219.ml.meta.txt
http://niwot.colorado.edu/meta_data/b-1mtape.ml.meta.txt
http://niwot.colorado.edu/meta_data/b-1hobo.hourly.jm.meta.txt

\type

statistical

\header

COL1. label=date, type=string, units=none, missing value indicator=NaN, minimum=1952-10-01, maximum=1964-12-13, precision=, definition=date (yyyy-mm-dd)

COL2. label=year, type=integer, units=none, missing value indicator=NaN, minimum=1952, maximum=1964, precision=1, definition=year (yyyy)

COL3. label=jday, type=integer, units=none, missing value indicator=NaN, minimum=0, maximum=366, precision=1, definition=Julian day 

COL4. label=precip, type=integer, units=millimeter, missing value indicator=NaN, minimum=0, maximum=, precision=1, definition=precipitation

COL5. label=qdays, type=integer, units=day, missing value indicator=NaN, minimum=0, maximum=, precision=1, definition=qualifying days

\data

http://niwot.colorado.edu/data_cvs/b-1preci.ml.data.csv

\log

The documentation section of this file was developed from the NWT LTER Data Directory (Symphony files DDABSTRA.WR1, DDDOCUME.WR1, DDMASTER.WR1, DDVARIAB.WR1; last updated 16 December 1991) by Mike Sannes and Rick Ingersoll during the summer of 1993. Data for the period from 1 October 1952 to 31 December 1964 were appended to the data section on 26 August 1993 and the file was put under sccs control at that time as well.[RCI 26 August 1993] Comments provided by Mark Losleben on 15 September  1993 were incorporated into the documentation section on 1 October 1993.[RCI 1 October 1993] Missing value indicators were changed from * to absence of value to conserve space and to be more consistent with other climate data files.[RCI 21 February 1994] URL locations for related data were updated on 31 August 2000.[MAH 31 August 2000] Column labels were shortened and definitions added. Title, investigator, and keywords were updated.[HCH 10 February 2016]